Aplus.net Blog

Now that we’ve covered the definition of social media and social media etiquette for small businesses, you’re probably itching to test out your newfound knowledge. Let’s get started with Twitter!

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a social media platform that lets users share 140-character messages called “tweets” with anyone. Tweets are searchable, so you can see who is tweeting about your company or industry (or find the best Chinese restaurant in KC). Usernames are preceded by the @ symbol (we’re @Aplus_net). You can “follow” other users to see their tweets your page, and send replies to tweets by including the recipient’s @username at the beginning of the tweet. Tweets can also be tagged; for example, @Aplus_net might type #webhosting at the end of a tweet, which would allow that tweet show up in search results even if that word wasn’t used in the tweet’s main text.

In short, Twitter is a lot like instant messaging, but you can listen to any conversation you want at any time, choose whether or not you want to reply to individual messages, and search past conversations.

Why should I care?

Twitter had more than seven million users in February 2009, up 1382% from February 2008 – and that was before Oprah featured it on April 17. As of February 2009, the Twitter population was nearly as diverse as Facebook’s. Additionally, people without Twitter accounts can see anyone’s tweets, making the audience even larger, and tweets are indexed by Google which could help your company’s search engine optimization.

How do I start?

You can’t sing like a bird if you’ve never heard a song before, and you don’t have a concert until you’ve practiced diligently. Twitter is just the same, which means that now is the time to practice by making a personal account and familiarizing yourself with Twitter’s musical score.

The first thing you need to decide is whether you’re going to have a “corporate face” or a “human face” for your company’s Twitter. In other words, is your Twitter username going to be your name or your company’s name? There’s a lot of discussion about whether to use your real name or your company name, and I’ll let you be the judge. However, your personal account should not be the same as your business account; your customers probably don’t care what you ate for breakfast, even though your mom might.

After you create your personal account, start “tweeting” about what’s going on in your life and follow a few friends or acquaintances. But don’t stop there: use Twitter Search to see what people are saying about your company, competitors, and industry. Through this search you’ll find people in your industry to follow, and you can watch how they connect with their followers. How do they respond when you ask questions? Do they just tweet about themselves, or do they actively help their followers?

The more people you follow, the more you’ll see how people interact with each other (and with other companies), and the more comfortable you’ll be when you start your business account. Just remember to start slow – if you follow too many people, you might be overwhelmed by tweets and find it hard to see how each person (or company) interacts with followers.

Points to remember:

• Twitter is a lot like instant messaging, but you can listen to any conversation you want, choose whether or not you want to reply to individual messages, and search past conversations
• Twitter is growing at a phenomenal rate, and has a diverse user base
• Don’t start a business account before practicing on a personal account

Was this post helpful? Do you still have questions? Ask us in the comments!

Up next: how to start a Twitter account for your business.